Andrew



(No Model.)

A. 0. SMITH, E. E. WEIR,-F. RQJ'CARSON & FIE. W I

OAR HEATER AND LAMP EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS. No. 379,995. Patented Mar. 278, 1888.

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L and lamps in case of accident to the car.

U IT STATES- PATENT ()FFICE.

ANDREW.O. SMITH, ELMER E. WEIR, FRANKLIN CARSON, AND FRED 'H. WEIR, OF KINGMAN, KANSAS, ASSIGNORS TO THE LINDGREN EXTIN- GUISHER COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.-

CAR HEATER AND LAMP EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS."

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 379,995, dated March 27, 1883. 4

Application filed March 21, 1887. Serial No. 231,795. (No model.)

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ANDREW 0. SMITH, ELMER E. WEIR, FRANKLIN R. CARSON, and FRED H. WEIR, citizens of the United States, residing in Kingman, in the county of Kingmanand State of Kansas, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Car Heater and Lamp Extinguisher Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to apparatus for automatically extinguishing the fire in car heaters Various appliances for this purpose have heretofore been devised. In some a reservoir of water has been arranged above the fire-pot, so that upon the automatic opening of a valve the water may by its gravity be discharged upon thefire. In case, however, the relative positions of'thefire-pot and water-tank happen to be altered by the overturning of the car this device afi'ords little security, and it is also open to other obvious objections. In other appliances the tank containing the extinguisher-liquid has been arranged in other relative positions to the fire-pot-'-as, for example, below it-and the extinguisher-liquid forced out by air or gas under pressure, the tank having a siphon discharge-pipe extending to near the bottom thereof; but with such device, if

the car happens to be overturned, the air or gas is liable to be discharged into the fire-pot instead of the extinguisher-liquid.

In our invention we preferably employ an extinguisher-vessel containing an extinguisherliquid and ammonium gas under pressure, such as shown and described in Letters Patent No. 323,170, granted to George A. Lindgren July 28, 1885, though other suitable kinds of fire-extinguishers may be used. The extinguisher-vessel is suspended from its supportby gimbals, so that whatever position the car may assume the extinguisher vessel will remain upright, so that the extinguisher-liquid must all be forced out by the pressure of the gas before the gas can escape. The dischargepipe of the extinguisher leads not only to the fire-pot of the stove or heater, but also to the car lamps. with a valve or cook furnished with a weighted lever carryinga counterpoise at one end, which is adapted to be displaced by any abnormal movement or turning of the car, and thus per- The discharge-pipe is provided mit the weight secured to the opposite end of the lever to open the valve. This'counterpoise is suspended overthe'cup or receptacle for the same on the end of the lever by means of a chain or cord, which serves to keep the counterpoise in place during the ordinary movements or tiltings of the car in going around curves, 8100., while it at the same time permits the counterpoise to be certainly disgimbals or pivoted ring in which the extinguisher-vessel is mounted, and Fig. 3 is a view showing the branch nozzles leading to the lamps.

In the drawings, A represents a car; B, its stove or heater; B, the fire-pot thereof, and 0 one of thegroups of lamps by which the car .80 is lighted. v

D is a closed extinguisher-tank, which may be of any suitable construction, butis preferably of the kind shown and described in the patentbeforereferred to. This tankis mounted 8 5 in gimbals F, or by other well-known substitute or equivalent meansis so'suspended above its center of gravity that said tank may always maintain its upright position however the car may turn. The tank D is itself pivoted at f to the gimbal-ring F, while said ring is pivoted at f to the brackets or supports 7, so that in whichever direction the car may tilt the tank D may correspondingly swing in relation to the car, and thus preserve its upright 9 5 position. g

The extinguisher-tank D is provided with a discharge-nozzle, D, and valve d, provided with an operating-lever, (1', having a weight, d secured at its end to automatically open the ce valve. The opposite arm, d of this lever is furnished with a cup or receptacle, d, in which rests a counterpoise, d, that operates to keep the valve d closed so long as said counterpoise is in place. When the counterpoise d is displaced from its cup, the lever d will respond to the weight (I or other equivalent force as, for example, a springand open the valve. The counterpoise d is provided with a slightlylax chain or cord attached to the car-roof directly above the receptacle 01* on the arm of the lever, so that this chain or cord will thus serve to hold or keep the ball (1 in place over the end of the lever during any ordinary oscillations or movements of the car. By adjusting this chain so that it is more or less nearly taut the counterpoise d may be made to keep itsseat on the end of the valve-lever with greater or less tenacity, as may be desired and as the conditions of the particular railroad on which the car is run may require. The ease with which the counterpoise may be displaced from its cup or seat d may also be varied by changing the shapeof such cup that is to say, by making the same more or less deep. The discharge nozzle or cup D, the valve d, and its operating-lever may be of any suitable or well-known construction. We, however, usually employ and prefer to employ a nozzleand valve like that commonly used on Seltzer-bottles. As the construction of such valves is well known to those skilled in the art, it is not necessary to here show or describe the same in detail. The tank D is furnished with a siphon discharge-pipe, D, communicating with the nozzle D and extend' ing to near the bottom of said tank, so that the extinguisher-liquid will be forced out before its impelling-gas can escape from said tank. The discharge-nozzle D communicates through a suitable connecting-pipe,G, with the fire-pot B of the heater,and through abranch,

G, with the lamps G. The pipe G is preferably made of flexible rubber hose. It will thus permit of the swinging movement of the tank D in its inclosing box or case H,without the necessity of any complicated or expensive coupling device to permit of such movement. The branch G is connected to the pipe G by a T or other coupling, 9. The pipe G is furnished with two branches or nozzles, g 9', one entering the heater B above the fire-pot and one near the bottom thereof. The branch G in like manner is provided with branches 9, one leading to each lamp and adapted to discharge the extinguishing liquid or gas down upon the burner of the lamp.

The tank D is charged with an extinguisher liquid and gas preferably of the kind and in the manner set forth in the prior patent to Lindgren, before referred to. However, other suitable fire-extinguisher solutions may be used, if desired.

The box or case H, in which the extinguishertank D is inclosed, is preferably secured to the car-roof at the central top part thereof, as indicated in the drawings.

We disclaim as not of our invention the devices shown and described in Patents Nos. 101,404, 190,780, and 267,667. Nor do we claim gimbals as our invention, as we are well aware that they have long been used on marine compasses, 8m.

Our invention consists in the combination, with a car-heater, of a fire-extinguisher vessel, gimbals in and by which said vessel is mounted and supported from the car, and a dischargepipe leading from the bottom of said extinguisher-vessel to said heater, so that into whatever position the car may be turned or thrown in case of accident the discharge-pipe will operate to deliver the extinguisher-fluid to the heater.

We claim-- 1. The combination, with a ear-heater and car-lamps, of a fire-extinguisher vessel, gimbals in which said vessel is mounted, a discharge-valve and weighted lever for operating said valve, a removable counterpoise for holding said valve closed, and a discharge-pipe connecting said extinguisher-vessel with said heater and said lamps, substantially as speci fied.

2. The combination, with a car-heater, of a fire-extinguisher vessel mounted in gimbals, so that it will preserve its upright position, and a discharge-pipe'leading from near the bottom of said vessel to the car-heater, substantially as specified.

3. The combination, with a car-heater, of afire-extinguisher vessel mounted in gimbals, so that it will preserve its upright position, and a discharge-pipe leading from near the bottom of said vessel to the car-heater, said extinguisher-vessel being provided with adischarge-valve having an operating lever furnished with a removable weight adapted to be displaced by any unusual movement of the car, substantially as specified.

4. The combination, with a car-heater, of a fire-extinguisher vessel, its discharge-valve and operating-lever, and a removable weight seated upon the end of said lever and provided with a suspension chain or cord attached directly above its seat and having but a slight amount of slack, so that it will serve to keep said weight in place during the ordinary movements of the car, substantially as speci fied.

5. The combination, with a car-heater, of a fire-extinguisher vessel, gimbals in which said Witnesses to the signatures of Franklin R.

Carson and Fred H. Weir:

LORAINE ASHMAN, HOMER A. DRAKE. 

